April 20th, 2011
Pancreas Cancer is quite common throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and indeed the world. It has, unfortunately, a high mortality rate and most of the patients we have – unlike some patients – we can’t operate on them and really we are searching for new ways to improve survival and outcome of these patients.
We inject the vaccine under the skin and we give a booster dose of a growth factor as part of the programme of vaccination and the idea is that the vaccine will target the immune system against pancreas cancer tumour cells. Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive cancer with patients only having up to 6 months to live after diagnosis. A vaccine has been developed by The School of Cancer Studies at the University of Liverpool and is in trials at 53 hospitals around the UK. The trial, which is treating more than 1000 patients, is on patients who already have the disease and aims to get the immune system to attack the cancer cells.
The following is the transcript of a BBC interview with Professor John Neotolemos, the Head of the School of Cancer Studies at the University of Liverpool.
Professor John Neotolemos
Pancreas tumours, they are very clever. they have ways of actually recruiting the immune system to help the tumour instead of fighting the tumour. So, they turn the immune cells into traitors, so they help to guard the tumour. And so what the vaccine does is that it actually takes away the masking effect of the tumour and says “this is a tumour” that you must kill. And given in combination with chemotherapy the whole immune response is actually quite powerful.
So, in the phase II studies, there was a suggestion that there could be a substantive improvement in survival – in median terms, a number of months. Now that may not sound a lot but in pancreas cancer it is. I am excited, but we need to be careful here: we are dealing with people, we are dealing with patients, and to base any findings or conclusions on confirmed solid, sound scientific evidence.
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Tags: cancer, cancer drugs, freedom healthnet, Pancreas Cancer, Pancreas Cancer Vaccine, Pancreatic Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine
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March 14th, 2011
Following along from earlier reports of NICE’s rejection of cancer drugs, NICE has recommended that Tarceva and Javlor should also not be funded on the NHS.
Tarceva (Erlotinib) is a drug for terminal lung cancer patients that is reported to give a better quality of life and to prolong the effects of chemotherapy. NICE has rejected this based upon the uncertainty about how much benefit it actually gives to patients. The manufacturer indicates that this extends life by 3 months, but a previously-approved drug (pemetrexed) offers a potential 5.2 months and the recommendation by NICE is to continue with this drug.
The second drug, Javlor (Vinfunine) is designed for treatment of advanced metastatic bladder cancer. NICE has rejected this drug on the basis of lack of conclusive evidence.
At present these recommendations are not final and local NHS trusts can make their own decisions.
Freedom Healthnet covers NICE approved drugs. Read full details of its health insurance and cancer policy.
Tags: cancer drugs, NICE, NICE rejects cancer drugs
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July 27th, 2010
The government has announced a £50 million injection of capital to pay for new cancer drugs for very sick patients. From October this year, doctors in England will be able to offer cancer drugs that have not been approved by NICE.
The move from the coalition government comes in response to the news that the UK lags behind many developed countries in providing the latest cancer drugs to its cancer sufferers. Health secretary Andrew Lansley commented “I promised that I would help patients in England get cancer drugs that are readily available in the rest of Europe.”
The report, from government cancer Tsar Professor Sir Mike Richards, also looked at drug use for other diseases cuch as heart disease, dementia and arthritis. He also indicated that this increased access to a wider range of latest drugs would not improve survival rates.
What could this mean for people who hold private health insurance policies? Currently, most insurers look to NICE for guidance on approval for drugs for private medical treatment. Insurers will probably continue to do so but will be considering the government initiative.
Tags: cancer drugs, NICE
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